To Bowles / Coleridge
"To Bowles" is s sonnet written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and published in the 26 December 1794 Morning Chronicle as part of the Sonnets on Eminent Characters series. To Bowles My heart has thanked thee, Bowles! for those soft strains, Whose sadness soothes me, like the murmuring Of wild-bees in the sunny showers of spring! For hence, not callous to the mourner’s pains Through youth’s gay prime and thornless paths I went: And when the mightier throes of mind began, And drove me forth, a thought-bewildered man! Their mild and manliest melancholy lent A mingled charm, such as the pang consigned To slumber, though the big tear it renewed; Bidding a strange, mysterious pleasure brood Over the wavy and tumultuous mind, As the great Spirit erst with plastic sweep Moved on the darkness of the unformed deep. Background William Lisle Bowles had an important part in Coleridge's early poetry; he served as a model for Coleridge.Mays 2001 p. 161 This influence can be traced to when Coleridge was given a copy of Bowles's Sonnets, Written Chiefly on Picturesque Spots, During a Tour in 1789. Later, Coleridge dedicated a poem to Bowles in order to praise him.Ashton 1997 p. 29 The poem "To Bowles" was the seventh of his Sonnets on Eminent Characters series. It was first printed on 26 December 1794 in the Morning Chronicle and rewritten for Coleridge's 1796 collection of poems. Mays 2001 pp. 161–162 As a footnote, Coleridge explained that Bowles was "Author of Sonnets and other Poems, published by Dilly. To Mr. Bowles's Poetry I have always thought the following remark, from Maximus Tyrius, peculiarly applicable ... 'I am not now treating of that Poetry, which is estimated by the pleasure it affords to the ear—the ear having been corrupted and the judgment-seat of the perceptions; but of that which proceeds from the intellectual Helicon, that which is dignified, and appertaining to human feelings, and entering into the soul."—The 13th Sonnet ... the 19th ... and the 25th ... are compositions of, perhaps, unrivalled merit. Yet, while I am selecting these, I almost accuse myself of causeless partiality; for surely never was a Writer so equal in excellence!"Mays 2001 qtd pp. 161–162 Coleridge's quoting of Maximus Tyrius leaves out part of Maximus's quote that suggests the sentence is describing music.Mays 2001 p. 162 Themes The sonnet praises Bowles's abilities as a poet while comparing him to other poets. This occurred in many of Coleridge's works including a comparison of Bowles with William Cowper in a December 1796 letter to John Thelwall:Ashton 1997 p. 30 "But do not let us introduce an act of Uniformity against Poets—I have room enough in my brain to admire, aye & almost equally, the head and fancy of Akenside, and the heart and fancy of Bowles, the solemn Lordliness of Milton, & the divine Chit chat of Cowper."Ashton 1997 qtd. p. 30 This was followed in Biographia Literaria with a claim that the two poets that were, "the first who combine natural thoughts with natural diction; the first who reconciled the heart with the head". Most of the Sonnets on Eminent Characters is devoted to those Coleridge considered heroes. Although Coleridge praises Bowles for "soft Strains", Coleridge was to turn to flashy type of poetic model as he developed as a poet.Ashton 1997 p. 60–61 However, the sonnets as a whole were not just about poetry but about Coleridge's political beliefs.Holmes 1989 p. 81 Coleridge emphasizes Bowles within the poem in political terms because, as Coleridge claimed, the other poet influenced Coleridge's political beliefs. In particular, Bowles provided Coleridge with the ideas of a universal brotherhood. See also *Other poetry by Coleridge References * Ashton, Rosemary. The Life of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Oxford: Blackwell, 1997. * Holmes, Richard. Coleridge: Early Visions, 1772-1804. New York: Pantheon, 1989. * Mays, J.C.C. (editor). The Collected Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Poetical works I Vol I.I. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001. Notes Category:1794 poems Category:Sonnets on Eminent Characters Category:Works originally published in the Morning Chronicle Category:18th-century poems Category:English poems Category:Text of poem Category:Poetry by Samuel Taylor Coleridge